


Chaos & Change

by shaypotter



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, Fjord reflecting on his feelings, One Shot, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Stream (Critical Role), These characters are killing me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-23
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2019-03-08 16:01:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13461651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shaypotter/pseuds/shaypotter
Summary: He typically wouldn't condone cheating but in this instance his eyes find her face once more, her mouth curled in a wicked grin and eyes glowing bright with her mischief.Just this once he'll indulge her.





	Chaos & Change

He watches the little blue tiefling quietly, leaning back in his seat, large arms crossing over his chest. She deals the cards carefully, her fingers moving with intent and determination as she deals the next hand. It’s a bit sloppy like she’s never dealt before. 

Fjord bites down on his lip to keep the smile off his face. 

They had just finished a long, grueling day of moving crates and boxes for the brewery, and the day before that they had killed a giant snake terrorizing a little girl. His muscles ache with the strain of the work and his skin feels overheated like he's soaked up too much sun in their time out in the yard. Jester's face has a bit of grime smudged on it and her hair lies flatter from the sweat of their labors. He quickly moves his gaze to Beau and chuckles softly to himself when he catches her asleep sitting entirely upright in her chair. She snorts out the smallest snore and makes a smacking sound with her lips, all the while remaining in her seat. 

Despite only knowing her a short time, he feels the same urge to protect Beau as he does Jester. It’s easy when Beau throws herself head first - well, fists firsts - into a fight with a giant snake after only having known them a few short minutes. It fosters an easy sense of loyalty. And Jester has already decided Beau is her new sister, which means he has to keep an eye on the both of them whether he wants to or not. 

He slides his gaze back to the tiefling nestled next to him on the bench. It seems he’s missed the first card, which is face down in front of her. Jester pulls her second card and visibly deflates, her mouth puckering down ever-so slightly at the corners. Fjord watches and tries to keep a neutral expression all the while. He knows she’s played this before. He also knows that this act, whatever it may be, is a part of some bigger scheme she’s probably running. 

The halfling man across the table barks out a throaty laugh while he watches Jester’s show. His dark eyes are twinkling with the win he can feel coming and Fjord almost feels bad for the older man. He knows that Jester had asked to play cards against this man for a reason. She could have asked any of the other workers who had worked side by side with them for a friendly game of cards - but she had picked the foreman with that calculating little twist to her lips. 

It wasn’t too difficult for Fjord to figure out why. The foreman, Wilnan, had screamed at Beau earlier during their work for her slow pace and bad attitude. Jester had watched with a stony expression, eyes locked on the pair while the older halfling man had cursed and spit at Beau. 

"So now... Now I must choose to fold, match you, or bet more?" she asks sweetly, staring up at the old halfling man with what Fjord can now spot as false innocence. She's such a complicated little thing. Half overly honest and good intentions, the other half mischievous and cunning. He's seen her light up in complete delight at the prospect of a good scone but he’s also seen her lie to someone’s face for no reason except the pleasure of executing a lie. 

Their game continues, Jester betting the very last bit of her money in a scared voice. When she loses, Wilnan lets out a whoop of joy that startles Beau from her sleep. Jester pouts and lets a few tears well up in her eyes. Fjord reaches out a hand and places it firmly on her shoulder in what he hopes she reads as the message it is - _You’re laying it on too damn thick._ Jester sniffles before choking out, “I just, I just need a moment…” and runs out the front door and into the cool night air. 

“How about it then, Orc? Let’s play a round? Maybe you’ll win back your friend’s money…” he finishes, snickering to himself as he scoops up Jester’s remaining gold. Fjord just nods and waits for what he knows will be the rest of Jester’s plan. The woman is too damn clever for her own good sometimes. 

As the first cards are dealt, Fjord sees the door close and Jester walk unsteadily back to his side. She remains standing this time, just over Fjord’s shoulder, and Fjord waits to feel the heat wash over his back from her nearness… And feels nothing. 

Her duplicate then, he thinks with a barely contained chuckle. And as he suspected, the real Jester creeps out from the shadows of the dark room and up behind the older halfling gentleman. He worries for a moment that she’s going to alert him to her presence, that they’ll be caught and thrown into this town’s small prison to rot, but Wilnan doesn’t suspect a thing even as Jester peers over his shoulder as he draws his second card against Fjord. Her keen eyes peek at his hand and then catch Fjord's gaze from across the table. 

"Raise," she mouths silently, and he blinks once to show he understands her though his mind is racing. If they're caught... They could be run right out of town. He typically wouldn't condone cheating but in this instance his eyes find her face once more, her mouth curled in a wicked grin and eyes glowing bright with her mischief. 

Just this once he'll indulge her. 

So he raises, betting a few pieces of his limited gold. He manages to make his voice a little shaky when he bets and the halfling man squints at him but raises as well, taking the bait. Bluffing then, Fjord thinks, before drawing his next card. A four. Pretty good hand so far he thinks, and the way Jester is grinning makes him believe he has a fair chance at the win.

"Listen boy, don't waste all your hard earned gold. I'm feeling rather good about this hand. So good in fact... " Wilnan shoves forward the gold he won from Jester, still high off his recent win. “I bet what I took from your little friend there. Don’t throw away the rest of your coin.” The old man's voice is gruff and honest, almost fatherly, and if Jester wasn't watching from the other side of the table, rapidly shaking her head in disagreement Fjord might have folded at his tone. 

But Jester is on the other side of that table in her dirtied shirt and pants looking like a gleeful little devil so Fjord just shakes his head slowly. “I… I think I’ll give it one last go.” He slides the rest of his gold across the table and waits. 

The old man's furry eyebrows crawl up his forehead, his mouth going tight with annoyance. "Alright son, if you think you know what you're doing..." The old man flips the cards in front of him, his beady eyes staring straight at Fjord. A three, a two, and a four. 

He reveals his cards: a seven, a four, and a three. 

\-- 

Fjord exits the small back room of the Bombock brewery with a heavy pocket and steps into the chilled air not long after his win. Wilnan had gone red in the face and sputtered that the three of them not show their faces around the brewery anymore, convinced they had cheated him somehow. Fjord merely thanked him for the work today and escorted the girls out, Wilnan cursing their names as he slammed the door shut behind them. 

Beau and Jester's double walk by his side for a few quiet minutes while Beau rubs the sleep from her eyes. As they make their way down the dirt road towards the Nestled Nook Inn, Fjord waits to speak until the duplicate vanishes and has been replaced with the real trickster. 

"Cheatin' that old man wasn't very kind of you, Jester," he scolds lightly. Jester skips next to him, obviously pleased with herself, and Fjord can't seem to school his features into a disappointed frown. He mainly just feels... happy. 

"I did not cheat him. He bet all his winnings on his own. That was not my doing.” She shakes her head quickly. “Nope, not me. He’s the one who risked it all. I just helped you... a _little.”_ Beau smirks from his other side and leans around him to nod her approval to Jester. “Plus, I was not going to let him get away with speaking so rudely to Beau. You always say manners are important, don’t you Fjord?” she challenges, her arms crossing across her filthy work shirt. 

Beau snorts. "I don't care what he thinks anyways, stupid dick." Her voice seems uninterested and uncaring but her blue eyes send Jester a small thank you anyways. Fjord can feel the last bit of his guilt fading as Jester returns Beau’s look with a wide grin, her dimples standing out against her lovely face. 

“See? He’s a dick. It’s okay to win money from dicks,” Jester continues to press with a cajoling tone, sensing that she’s almost won Fjord over. 

Fjord doesn't say anything else for a moment as they continue along the darkened path, his fingers remaining tight on the hilt of the sword strapped to his hip, just in case. "Well I don't need anything with the money. I have what I need." Jester's mouth opens to argue some twisted morals he's sure but he doesn't let her start, his other hand coming up to halt her words. “I'll buy you one of those pretty dresses you wanted earlier, Jester. And some rounds of ale for you, Beau." 

Jester’s eyes go wide and her mouth drops open for a split second. Fjord swallows back whatever feelings are crawling up his throat at the expression of complete joy and adoration she sends his way. His grip on the hilt goes slack for a moment as the heat from her smile relaxes some of the tension in his body. Beau let's out an enthusiastic whoop and bumps his left arm lightly with her fist. 

"Awesome," she breathes out, no doubt already planning on the buckets of ale he would be providing her for the night. Fjord tears his eyes away from Jester’s face and shoots Beau a half-smile. “You’re pretty fucking cool, Fjord,” the monk finishes, her deep voice raising in volume in her excitement. 

Jester pokes him in the side to regain his attention. Never one to deny her much, Fjord moves his stare back to her. "Could I get that blue one? With the pretty pink flowers along the trim?" Jester's voice is hesitant and hopeful, like he doesn’t always end up giving her anything she asks for. She tucks her hand into the crook of his arm, linking them together as they walk. His arm burns at the contact of her bare skin on his and he struggles to remember what she asked. 

"Yeah," he eventually manages to get out, his cheeks feeling warm against the cold night air. "Yeah. It's yours."

**Author's Note:**

> I'm having a lot of feelings with Jester/Fjord and I can't tell if it's because Laura and Travis are so adorable or if the characters have as much chemistry as I'm feeling they do. Either way, I love these new characters and I'm so excited to see where season 2 goes!


End file.
